Two months ago, reports from banks indicated that there may have been a credit card breach from the payment systems in on-site stores, coffee shops, and restaurants in Hilton-owned hotels. Reservation and payment systems for hotel rooms were not affected. Hilton confirmed the breach late yesterday, warning customers who had used payment cards to check their statements. [More]

In much of the country, this is the first truly warm week of the year. The change of seasons has us turning to shorts, dresses, sandals, and chilled fruity drinks served in rooftop bars. But data breaches, alas, are always in style, and buying that beverage may land you with a stolen credit card number.

We could start to see “smart cards” — credit cards embedded with a PIN-encoded chip instead of just a magnetic strip — take hold in America next year due to a big move by Visa. They are offering some very enticing financial incentives to stores to get them to install point of sale terminals that can read smart cards.

Arguably, the most important fact in this story is that there’s a grocery chain called “Schnucks.” It’s located in the Midwest, and Brandon and his fiancee shop there, employing a complicated credit-card-tab-splitting procedure that normally causes no problems. This time, it did, resulting in a double charge. Brandon wonders whether he’s justified in pursuing a chargeback, since he still doesn’t have his money back. Short answer: Yes.

Kat tells Consumerist that she had an odd experience while shopping at Forever 21. The store accidentally charged her twice for an item that was on clearance–no returns. In most retail establishments, this isn’t a problem. But at Forever 21, based on Kat’s experience, all the chain can offer you is store credit instead of a refund of the overcharge. Kat wanted the money returned to her account.